Firefox bites the hand that feeds it

This month the industry was all aflutter about Firefox’s announcement to block third-party cookies by default on their Firefox 22 release (set for June).

Equator

19 Mar 2013

This month the industry was all aflutter about Firefox's announcement to block third-party cookies by default on their Firefox 22 release (set for June).

Since the announcement there has been a lot of retaliation from the online ad industry, basically condemning FF for biting the hand that feeds it (or funds it). Internet users are pretty savvy, knowing that someone has to pay for all of the free content and services they get to access. And even if they aren't aware of it, this structure is how it all runs.

The IAB has come down really hard on this decision. The online ad industry, led by the IAB has made huge efforts in self-regulation and they feel that this undermines all of their work to empower internet users. This article contains an insightful graph about browser usage (though note, this is US) as well as a great POV.

Let's keep in mind, however, that this has been positioned only as Mozilla's intention and we're hoping that the negativity around it and lack of industry support might make them rethink their strategy. The fear, of course, is that instead others may follow their lead.